Military operation in Syria will lead to numerous casualties, Russian Duma speaker says

August 28, 2013, 13:48 UTC+3The public remembers the military operation in Iraq as well as the far-fetched and falsified pretext used to launch the operation, spokesman reminds

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BRATISLAVA, August 28 (Itar-Tass) - Speaker of the Russian State Duma, lower house of parliament, Sergei Naryshkin said if a military operation is launched, it would lead to numerous casualties and will not stop civil war.

He added that "the war will cause significant damage to the UN, the world community and international law.”

“The situation in Syria aggravated when all conditions were created to involve the UN in the resolution of the Syrian crisis,” he said.

“UN experts started working in Syria; several NATO countries said experts’ conclusions were unnecessary and expressed readiness to launch a military operation against Syrian military,” the speaker said.

“These are very dangerous statements. Currently no one knows who has used chemical weapons. However, it is well-known that opposition militants blocked the work of UN experts, who had been attacked from the territory controlled by insurgents,” Naryshkin said.

“The public remembers the military operation in Iraq as well as the far-fetched and falsified pretext used to launch the operation. Everyone remembers the tragic events: hundreds of thousands of victims, including peaceful civilians. No one took responsibility for this,” Naryshkin concluded.

Earlier on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for giving a chance to facilitate the conflict resolution in Syria.

“Syria needs a diplomatic solution. The Security Council can't be missing in action,” Ban Ki-moon said.

Amids expectations of an imminent launch of an allied military strike against Damascus, Russian officals in Syria remain calm. “The situation is normal. Staff is not being evacuated,” a representative of the Russian embassy told Itar-Tass.